Issues Of Contract Law Applicable In The Charter Party

The implementation of the 《Contract Law of PRO》 has ended the chaotic situation in the field of contract law with respect to simultaneous existence of the 《Economic Contract Law of PRO》, 《Law of PRC on Economic Contract Law Involoving Foreign Interest》 and 《Law of PRC on technology Contracts》 in our country. The implementation of the (Contract Law)) which has a overall provisions in respect of conclusion of contract .validity of contract performance of contract and liability for breach of contract etc, has a great significance both in protection of lawful rights and interests of parties to contract and in improvement of system of civil legislation of our country.Charter party, as one type of contract for carriage of goods by sea , also be governed by Contract Law ( the precondition is that china law is applicable for the charter party involoving foreign interest) . Prior to adoption of the contract law .charter party was mainly governed by maritime law and civil law which just have some provision concerning the contents of charter party and liability for beach ,but not relevant provision in respect of conclusion of contract, validity of contract, performance defense of contract and preservation of contract. (Contract Law of PRO) make up the aforesaid legal vacuum. Notwithstanding many provisions provided for by contract law may apply to charter party in the absence of the corresponding provisions in maritime law, the aforesaid provisions are just general provisions. Charter party, as an special type of contract , has many particular characters differ from the common business contract and formed many unique usages after hundreds years of practice.Therefore, currently , the most urgent problems need to be resolved by us is that how to apply and employ under charter party the new provisions provided for by (Contract Lawof PRO) such as,offer-acceptance, subrogation, performance defense etc as well as how to construe the legal nature of such shipping usage under contract law so as to accords with the needs of particularity of charter party. I hereinafter attempt to discuss some problems among aforesaid issues and hope to make a useful attempt on improvement of application of contract law under charter party.The article includes five chapters. The first chapter discusses that what is the offer-acceptance during conclusion of charter party as well as the legal nature of fixture note and the term of "subject to..." which is often used during conclusion of charter party. The second chapter discusses two issues, one of them is that howto construe the stipulation in Article 314 of Maritime code in case of occurrence of damage to cargos caused by the event of force majeure and whether the freight unpaid should be paid or the freight prepaid should be refunded in aforesaid circumstance. The anther issue is that whether the freight under voyage charter party may be deducted or set-off according to the stipulation in respect of set-off provided by Contract Law. The third chapter discusses the problems occurred in the trial of the case in respect of chain voyage charter party prior to implementation of Contract Law as well as the shipowner how to exercise the right of subrogation provided by Contract Law to protect it's creditor1 rights under chain voyage charter party. The four chapter discusses the employment of the right to cancellation of contract provided by Contract Law under charter party. The last chapter discusses the impact of carrier's liability for damage compensation provided by Contract Law on carriers under charter party, including the validity of exception clause under charter party and the application of the principles of liability for damage compensation provided by Contract Law under charter party...